The project was announced by Mericle President Robert Mericle who said the decision to construct the building was influenced, in part, by a recent increase in inquiries from manufacturing companies.

“We are encouraged by the uptick in calls from local and out-of-area manufacturers seeking to expand in our area,” Mericle said. “We decided to construct the building to ensure that we have an ample supply of the type of space they are seeking.”

Mericle said manufacturers typically seek buildings with strong power, energy efficient lighting and heating, wide column spacing, modern loading, and quick highway access. “We designed the building to meet all of these criteria,” Mericle said.

The building will be the 25th constructed in the park since 2007 and will bring the total square feet in CenterPoint East and West to almost 6.3 million. The 38 tenants in the park together employ approximately 4,500 people.

Mericle said crews from Mericle Construction have completed site work and installed the building’s foundations and steel erection has begun. He said the building will be ready for tenants by spring, 2016.

He said the building can be subdivided to house up to four tenants and he expects there to be interest from a variety of manufacturing and distribution companies. He estimates that 125 to 200 people will work in the building when it is fully occupied.

In 2014 Mericle Commercial Real Estate Services provided industrial space in CenterPoint West to Greiner Packaging International, one of Europe’s leaders in the manufacturing of premium packaging. Last week, Mericle announced the start of construction of a 46,000 square foot manufacturing plant in Hanover Crossings for Japanese firm Itoh Denki.

Robert Mericle said the site for the new spec building had been fully prepared in advance as part of his company’s ReadyToGo!™ Program. Through the program, Mericle Construction is clearing, grading and compacting, and obtaining all permits and approvals, for 90 sites in 11 local business parks. To date, work has been completed on 40 ReadyToGo!™ Sites.